There was a famous scene in “Mame” where she lost everything she had and depression was setting in.

So in the true spirit of a Broadway musical, Mame launched into the song “We need a little Christmas”.

They needed a little Christmas because hope was lost and their spirit was broken.

In that moment they chose to do something very difficult when life had delivered a groin kick . . .

They chose to celebrate and more importantly survive their circumstances!

I had a few Christmases like this and it wasn’t easy to launch into songs like this (the background music never appears for me like it does for them and my voice scares the hell out of whoever’s in the room).

I remember being so poor that one of the only gifts I could afford to give my son was some plastic soldiers that I took out of the packaging and displayed because it looked like more (thank God he was only 2 at the time!)

I remember the feeling of being a loser because I couldn’t do more and quite frankly that was unnecessary because I had abundance and I just didn’t see it.

I had the love of my family (and lots of love to give them too)

I had my health

And surprisingly enough, I was waking up alive each day which told me that my work wasn’t done yet. By the way: Should you wake up dead one morning, your work is done. See how that works?

Today you absolutely could make a decision to embrace a few things.

1) Your legal right to act like a complete child during the holidays. I choose to embrace this with a childlike hope and an immature need to change lyrics to Christmas songs. Speaking of which, there’s a word in the song “Silver Bells” that I change to rhyme with “city” that’s been getting me in trouble with “Mrs Uncle Paul” for like 30 years now. Don’t hold your breath for me growing up any time soon!

2) Counting the blessing you DO have. Making “screw you” lists of the things that piss you off is easy and at the same time, does wonders for amplifying your disappointment and anger. Find something to be grateful for. By the way, you should have seen my Dad on Christmas Eve 1987. He was soaking it all up with a big ear to ear grin. He was happy and at peace. Little did I know that just a few days earlier he was told his cancer was terminal and that would be his last Christmas. Kind of makes that dicky boss of yours or all those bills look like baby sh*t huh?

3) Give! Whether its a few cans of food, blood, those frequent flyer miles, some toys for tots or maybe just some good old fashioned encouragement . . . others sure could use “A Little Christmas” now! The real gift might be to yourself because it has a way of making you feel quite wealthy.

So today’s post is for all who struggle

For all who are facing a challenging season of their life and . . .

For those who need to stop growing up and be a kid again!

Quite selfishly, it was for me too . . .

When I made a promise to try and give back when my life had taken a bad turn!

Peace!